Techniques › Vegetables, grains and beans
Choosing potatoes: waxy vs. starchy
Beginner Vegetables, grains and beans
Picking the right potato for the job, because high-starch and low-starch potatoes cook up very differently.
Written with AI help from the sources listed, and published by Cory. Spot a mistake? Tell us and we'll fix it.
How do you do it?
- Use starchy potatoes (russet, Idaho) for baking, mashing and fries.
- Use waxy potatoes (red, fingerling, new potatoes) for potato salad, soups and gratins where pieces should hold their shape.
- Use all-purpose potatoes (Yukon Gold) when you want a bit of both: creamy mash, roasting, or chunky stews.
- When unsure, cut one: starchy flesh looks dry and chalky, waxy flesh looks moist and dense.
Why does it work?
Starchy potatoes have more and larger starch granules and less water. When cooked, the granules swell and push the cells apart, so the flesh turns fluffy and crumbly. Waxy potatoes have less starch, more moisture and cells that stay glued together, so they hold firm slices and turn creamy rather than mealy. Overworked starchy cells burst and leak starch, which makes mash gluey.
What are the common mistakes?
- Russets in potato salad — they crumble and turn the salad to mush.
- Red potatoes for baked potatoes — dense and waxy instead of fluffy.
- Waxy potatoes in a blender for mash — sticky, gluey paste.
Still stuck? Watch someone do it on YouTube.
Learn by cooking. In Pantry to Pan, technique words in your recipes' steps link straight
to guides like this one, right when you need them.
Try it free for 14 daysMore vegetables, grains and beans
- Blanching (and shocking)Boiling vegetables briefly, then plunging them into ice water.Beginner
- Caramelizing onionsCooking onions slowly until deep golden brown, soft and sweet.Intermediate
- Pasta water and al denteCooking pasta until just tender with a little bite, and saving some of the starchy water.Beginner
- Roasting vegetablesCooking cut vegetables in a hot oven until their edges brown and their centers turn tender.Beginner
- Cooking rice (the absorption method)Simmering rice in a measured amount of water so it absorbs all of it and cooks fluffy.Beginner
- Rinsing rice and grainsWashing grains in cold water before cooking to remove loose surface starch and dust.Beginner